lazy librarian against captivity

Angel Catbird Vol 1 by Margaret Atwood was terrible…

Besides being anti-cat propaganda in disguise and pushing that agenda on almost every other page with little “facts” at the bottom of each page (Atwood clearly cares more about birds and humans than cats), the story is mediocre and, quite frankly, boring.

It’s not cats that are the biggest problem. If we, as a species, were to disappear overnight the cats wouldn’t be the biggest threat to birds. It would still be our buildings. If our buildings and us were to vanish, the impact of cats on birds would stabilize.

I’m so sick of the xenophobic rhetoric underlying approaches like this. Yes, I’m sure Atwood cares about birds and cats, but she’s still feeding into the anti-cat movement that kills cats.

Yes, cats kill birds. And other things. And each other.

Yes, it’s changing ecosystems (but because of us). But instead of striving for Nazi-like eco-purity, let evolution/survival of the fittest take its course, I say, because living alongside us humans will take animals who can adapt and not constantly suffer…

Also, one fact at the bottom of a page says that only 5% of lost cats are ever returned to their owners, because they are “probably dead, having been hit by car or mauled by an animal.” Bullshit. More cats are put down in shelters than dogs. Your cat didn’t just die of accidental causes. Shelters actively take in cats and kill them. I’ve volunteered at a shelter. I’ve watched what happens to them. They are killed because, quite frankly, dogs are viewed as more important in a shelter system. Don’t like a cat and need to make space? Call it feral and unadoptable. Boom. Easier to justify their death.